VPS’ Post

It was a pleasure to attend at the World Maritime Technology Conference in Chennai last week. This conference is held every three years & looks at a wide range of maritime issue such as education, digitization, sustainability, markets, innovations, role of class etc. And it has been a greater privilege to give the keynote speech on the Digitization in Shipping Session & moderate the panel as well. India has made huge strides in social digitization over the last decade, but shipping still has a long way to go with many structural challenges whether local or global. Such challenges can be the likes of fragmented stakeholders, complex international regulations, high economic capital structure, slim margins, no unified digital standard, cyber security, cross border trade, primitive port documentation, traditional workforce, harsh environment etc. The list goes on. There are digital solutions out there for shipping to meet these challenges - but we believe we at VPS have more to offer here - whether this is global market insights with PortStats, or operational efficiency with Maress, or continuous emissions monitoring with Emsys. Come & talk to you. The digitization of bunkering in Singapore is an important example of how the port authority & national standards development can work hand in hand with the industry to improve efficiency, transparency & safety. The new SS709:2024 now defines the digital bunkering supply chain documentation. Firm implementation action is also needed if such transformation is to work & this will be mandatory from 1st April 2025. Thomas Ting Elane Ng Subba Rao & Hrishikesh Narasimhan have been friends & colleagues for more than two decades & their roles as President & Convenor for this event has been impeccable. What better place than to rub shoulders with the likes of Tim Wilkins David Loosley & Capt. Ashok Srinivasan, MBA, AFNI , again both good friends & colleages. We continue to work closely with them. INTERTANKO BIMCO The event closed with a social evening where the cultural richness took centre stage. We tend to forget the importance of such historical relevance in the lives we lead & the bridges we build.